I feel we’ve been sorely lacking a Handbook in the styles of other army forums, both Ogres, HE’s and Empire have well written books and I feel I’d try merging all of the spread out information we have to make our own.

Starting comments:

As for the Handbook’s written by Rothgar13 that you may or may not have seen floating around other forums out there in the big wide internet I’m going to make some assumptions.

1. The handbook is written with no Comp in mind – any amount of anything is considered good to go and nothing is considered more or less useful due to its rating in a certain comp system.
2. This handbook is written with an all-comers list in mind.
3. This handbook is written with a competitive list in mind.

Ratings scale:

I’m going to rate units in color codes as to make a handy and quick reference in the usefulness / competitiveness of a certain unit; it would still be wise to read the quick description following the color coded unit name.

Red is dead. This is a choice that's so bad, it actively detracts from your army synergy and makes your list a worse one overall.Yellow* is conditional. It may shine in certain matchup or when used in certain ways, but in general it's a subpar choice.Green is the average. Not necessarily a great choice, but it's rarely one you'll end up regretting.Blue is an above-average or exceptional choice. These options frequently increase army synergy and overall list strength.Purple is the highest rating in this handbook, and it's reserved for choices that should be staples in virtually all competitive lists. Don't leave home without 'em.

(The above is directly copy pasted from afore mentioned guides for easy reference the forums across - credits to Rothgar13)

References:

Here I’ll store the immense amount of posts which I’m going to use to support the ratings of specific units and their use in a competitive list.

Lizardmen Overall:

The general Characteristics that follow Lizardmen armies.

1. Lizardmen can do most things but long range shooting well. We have a solid magic presence, great monsters for a mashing list and several fast-moving units and/or flyers to (hopefully) take out whatever cannons our opponents bring. If we want to we can also build a shooty list with a limited range, but great movement.

2. Lizardmen is an infantry centric army – we are reliant on clouds of skinks or units of Saurus warriors almost regardless of what list we play. There’s a very limited selection in core, and none of the choices are enough of a powerhouse, to receive much more than the minimum dedication of points in a competetive list.

3. Lizardmen can go with both a defensive and an offensive strategy. However I feel that with the new book and the lack of long ranged shooting besides our solid magic presence we’ll usually be forced to be the aggressor as to support our fast moving artillery killers, flyers, and get the maximum use out of our high MS units.

Army-wide special rules:

Here I’ll sum up our special rules and their relative worth.

Cold blooded – The ability to roll 3 dice for leadership tests and take the 2 lowest is an immensely useful tool though somewhat diminished, but still great, with the nerf of Skink leadership in the new book. This allows our units to operate outside of our general and BSB’s bubble of leadership without the punishment some armies would have to endure.

Predatory Fighter (PF) – When your units possessing this special rule produce a 6 to hit, we get another attack, that cannot generate hits – furthermore we cannot test to restrain pursuit unless we have a skink character, including skink special characters, within 6” of the unit with PF. This Rule's usefulness is diminished first by the randomness of having to first roll the correct result on a dice, and second by the added lack of control it adds. However it will be rare that we do not wish to pursuit and it is possible to build around that punishment so all in all the rule should generate us a small, but still nifty amount of extra attacks.

Aquatic – This rule is dependent on the rolled terrain, as it makes units with the rule harder to hit and allows them to remain steadfast, claim ranks or march in Marshland or river. With a smart placement of terrain this rule can definitely have a saying in a game, but seeing as not many of our ranked units possess this rule we’re likely to use it mostly for movement purposes and protection from ranged fire.

Jungle Poisons - Simply put, poison for skinks but only for ranged combat. Point your skinks at the right enemy target, or your chameleon skinks in that regard and watch the poison take it's effect. Having only an armour (and/or ward) save to avoid taking a wound, many monsters, warmachines or other softly armoured targets will be wounded when hit. Poison is at it's most usefulness against low AS, high toughness unitt. Now start rolling them 6's.

Scaly Skin - Scaly skin is an armor save on top of, or instead of, a normal armor save. This can be huge when considering our lords and heroes come bearing a 5+ or 4+ of these with options for LA and Shields. With only one model missing out this is a great special rule. It should be noted that Lizardmen otherwise don't have access to heavy armor or the special kinds of armor some other races possess, which means Lizardmen are not the most armored Warhammer army.

Arcane Vassal – Very valuable for Slann and Skink Priest pairings. Skink Priests have just the right combination of mobility and expendability to make them great for aiming Slann spells, especially short ranged spells. Somewhat less valuable on the Troglodon, but the size give it’s a good vantage point and you can one-two punch enemies with a spell followed by some acid spit and unlike a Skink Priest, it can survive a fight (well some fights).

Telepathic Confabulation – With the End Times expanded Lord allowance, you do need a large points sized game to have two Slann in one army. To make this power more than a novelty, you generally need one Slann in the center of your army to transfer radius spells to and a more a distance Slann to transfer your long range spells too. You can also transfer your miscast prone high value spells to a lone Slann away from a bunkered Slann. Be wary of giving one Slann all of your best spells, since you lose everything if he dies.

* = Actual yellow yellow shows up poorly on this new light background. That's why our current yellow is more orange than yellow

Work in Progress - I'd love some support on this, advice, constructive criticism, correction of grammar and spelling errors and pointers towards the rating of units and rules.

It is worth noting that only our Slann have access to all lores while our Skink priests can only access Beasts and Heavens (and Undeath if End Times rules are used) which excludes considerations for Skink signature caddies of anything but Lore of Beasts and Lore of Heavens.

Lore of Beasts

Lore Attribute - Wildheart: Considering the amount of Monsters, Monstrous Beasts, Monstrous Cavalry and cCvalry we're using I deem Wildheart to be fairly useful - however more nifty than amazing.

0. Wyssan's Wildform: Most races love this spell and for a reason, on Lizardmen with a standard toughness and strength around 4 it becomes even more powerful. Both an amazing defensive, and offensive spell and you're guaranteed to get it if you want it - don't miss out.

1. The Flock of Doom: Magic missile with many hits and very low punch behind them. Our own Soul Quench puts this spell very much to shame. You might find use for it on other Skinks or low toughness targets, but if there's a spell I would exchange for Wyssan's everyday - this is it.

2. Pann's Impenetrable Pelt: The characters we build to survive will most likely survive without this bonus, even though it can be important enough to swing their survival into the good brackets, and allow them to take on even bigger foes there's definitely better spells in beasts for us.

3. The Amber Spear: If you need to feel how it's like to have a cannon, this is the spell for you. At it's normal potency it will act like a bolt thrower with normal strength, unlike our giant bow, and at high strength it will be the closest we get to experiencing firing a cannon.

4. The Curse of Anraheir: A great tool for getting large amounts of troops down in reasonable sizes. The to-hit penalties are useful once we reach CC and the prospect of withering down 1/3 of whatever horde you threw it at should have everyone joyfully laughing. Anything expensive in numbers hates this thing too.

5. The Savage Beast of Horros: Good things should be exploited until there's no room back to exploit in. This bad boy will have our Saurus Heroes and Lords hitting many more times which works wonders with PF, and give them enough of a strength boost that a great weapon Scar vet starts hitting like a cannon in close combat. A worthwhile investment.

6. Transformation of Kadon: I can see this coming in handy when flying in a lowly Skink to act as a vassal for the mighty Slann when suddenly the dice gods go in your favor (assuming the Skink is level 2 and rolled this spell).

Overall: I like how this lore takes our strengths and brings it to the next lvel. Our Skinks will even become worthwhile close combat fighters with a Wyssan's on their scales. All in all a great lore for a LM army and with Skinks able to take it, it wouldn't be an error to bring one or two if only for Wyssan's. I am not sure I'd stick this lore on a Slann, Transformation is not usable by the Slann due to the palanquin special rule, but in a character driven and monster heavy army it might be worthwhile.

Lore of Heavens:

Lore Attribute - Roiling Winds: Conditional but useful since most armies include some kind of fliers and some are so particularly nasty they should be shot down, this will help do just that.

0. Iceshard Blizzard: To us this is golden. Our regular usage of several monsters and the low WS of our troops makes for practically a 4+ ward save for our monsters if used on artillery and against elite infantry we're back to being hit on a normal 4, or even a 5 against some standard infantry.

1. Harmonic Convergence: Not a game breaker in each of the three cases you get the rerolls, but combined there's enough of a bonus, and a low enough casting value to merit a good supporting spell.

2. Wind Blast: Against the right type of list, and with the right usage in mind this could come in handy in many games. In some you won't need it though and it might be a candidate to get your Iceshard Blizzard.

3. Curse of the Midnight Wind: The higher casting cost of this spell makes me want it less than it's augment twin brother. However it still has its uses and can provide difficulty against both Poison and Killing Blow and it even though we hit hard and are tough it isn't of un-noted value to have your opponent reroll his hits, wounds and armor saves.

4. Urannon's Thunderbolt: One of the better Magic Missiles. It complements our lack of ranged artillery and amounts of low strength shooting well by delivering long range, especially boosted, high strength hits.

5. Comet of Cassandora: This spell is strong not necessarily for the damage it might do, but for the psychological factor of denying a certain area of the battlefield from your enemy. It will cause a reaction, and if you use it right you should be able to exploit it. While friendly fire is possible this is to me the best spell of the lore. It should be mentioned that if Tetto'eko is in your list this spell becomes even more of a game-changer enabling you, nearly, to dictate (almost) when the comet lands.

6. Chain Lightning: A solid spell though with a rather large spread on damage. The high strength and decent chance of a spread however makes this spell a good one to us as the range gives us long range fire as with Urannon's Thunderbolt.

Overall: This Lore offers plenty of useful spells. I feel it complements us both in terms of a Primary lore on the Slann, a level 1 Skink priest just for Iceshard Blizzard or a level 2 Priest for a random extra and an extra chance at Comet. It should be mentioned that Tetto'eko receives loremaster for this lore and will be able to hold the role as your army's main caster with plenty of useful spells to cast.

Lore of Death:

Lore Attribute - Life Leeching: Getting your dice back by dealing damage with a lore specialized in dealing damage is a strong attribute.

0. Spirit Leech: This is a useful spell for character sniping and with a Slann in a TG getting him into range becomes less dangerous than it would be for most other casters or you could always go for the boosted version - LD 9 is fairly potent as well so a good spell on a Slann that should provide good results.

1. Aspect of the Dreadknight: A spell that makes us cause fear or terror has small use on our Saurus, but that's about it. We will find Fear or Terror almost anywhere else we look in our lists. Not useless, but not exactly golden either.

2. Caress of Laniph: Another sniper spell with a decent range once boosted and a TG suited range when not. This one is less chancy and is great to use against low strength enemy characters like mages.

3. Soulblight: Now this spell provides the same bonus that Wyssan's gives to our units, just on anything that targets the selected units. This spell even has a bubble effect for further destruction. Cast the bubble down and watch the carnage.

4. Doom and Darkness: With this spell our normally grinding Saurus may actually have a chance at breaking their enemies. This spell also sets up units neatly for our Fear and Terror causing units or for Salamanders triggering panic tests.

5. The Fate of Bjuna: A very potent sniping spell, though with a rather limited range. However as our Slann often follows his TG into close combat this spell is more than worthwhile.

6. The Purple Sun of Xereus: One of the nuke spells of 8th edition. This monster will take down entire units of low initiative or even large numbers of mid initiative enemies. The only set back for us is the chance of a misfire which will ensure the death of many a loyal TG, luckily Look Out Sir! is allowed should this ever occur.

Overall: All in all a Potent lore with no real disappointments. A Slann carrying Death magic into a battle is dangerous to any opponent.

Lore of Fire:

Lore Attribute - Kindleflame: This is a decent attribute in that it provides, in effect, ½ an extra power dice when we repeatedly burn the same unit in a magic phase. It does require us to burn that same unit though.

0. Fireball: The ability to shape this spell to your whims, and after your power dice makes it a very useful spell. It's like getting three, somewhat similar spells, and being able to pick which one you want every magic phase.

1. Cascading Fire-Cloak: I can definitely see this coming in handy on a TG unit engaged in close combat. That said, the amount of hits an strength of the attacks does make almost any other augment a better selection, still useful.

2. Flaming Sword of Rhuin: Relatively light weight in casting cost, both boosted an un-boosted and provides a useful bonus. It complements our close combat unit's well and the + 1 to wound is golden on a unit that mostly already wounds on a 3+.

3. The Burning Head: A decent spell with a fine punch and a nifty extra effect. The FAQ allows this to be cast in combat, so it has its uses.

4. Piercing Bolts of Burning: We already have ways to clear hordes of enemies but one more won't do bad. It does however do better against deep units than actual hordes.

5. Fulminating Flame Cage: A truly great spell, the only thing holding this badboy back is the strength of the hits, but still it has a great ability to hold big enemy units in place or see their numbers dwindle rapidly.

6. Flame Storm: It requires too much of a dice-day to get off properly and see enough units dead to this spell - and if you boost it hoping for it to see more enemy models you might end up even closer to it seeing your own. It does however have a chance of creating more Kindleflame targets.

Overall: This lore definitely has it's weak spells, and it's useful spells. I believe there is enough useful spells to merit a Fire Slann, but you're probably better off going for High Magic and visiting this lore for a Fireball or a lucky Flame Cage.

Lore of High Magic:

Lore Attribute - Contemplations: A lore attribute that makes this lore even more of a toolbox lore. It can already provide what you need, but should you find yourself needing something specific, usually in the form of a signature spell, this has great use.

0. Drain Magic: This really comes with a good effect and a low enough casting cost to make it really useful. Negating your enemy's augments and hexes on a unit makes it a good spell for evening combat or forcing your opponent to spread his augments and hexes out.

0. Soul Quench: Low range but plenty of punch to make this one of the better signature magic missiles. It should deliver.

1. Apotheosis: The ability to put wounds back on our hero's and monsters is a really useful tool and what makes this spell. The secondary effect is rarely of use to us, but can be decent on your Slann.

2. Hand of Glory: This will boost every stat we don't have enough of when it comes to Saurus. Everything it provides we need, and therefore this is a great spell. It can also help Razordon packs or Ancient Stegadons with giant blowpipes get a lot more hits.

3. Walk Between Worlds: This is a movement masterpiece. Our infantry blocks can have a hard time following up, no more, and even better if you want something big ramming into your enemy early in the game this will provide you with that opportunity - this spell will do many things, there's only one thing it can't do: disappoint you.

4. Tempest: This spell has it's uses against massed infantry or Gunlines with poor unit placements but for the casting cost I'd rather go into Heavens and take Iceshard for single targets and no scatter.

5. Arcane Unforging: Some armies need just that one item. With this spell you can eat that one item - that is if he didn't bring another item for you to roll.

6. Fiery Convocation: Remains in Play horde eater. Your opponent will want to get rid of this, and that is probably its biggest strength - it should eat some power dice and if it doesn't I wouldn't complain if I were you.

Overall: The ability to put this on a Loremaster Slann is what makes it a potent jack of all trades toolkit kinda lore. It should not disappoint. If you aren't going with a loremaster, you're not going to be pumping enough juice out of this lore though.

Lore of Shadow:

Lore Attribute - Smoke and Mirrors: This can take your Slann out of difficult situations but will rarely be used as the defense of his Temple Guard should be able to keep him safe in your games. If you have a Solo Slann this will bring more juice to the table.

0. Melkoth's Mystifying Miasma: The casting cost and status of this spell as a signature makes it a very good spell for us. It weakens the enemy in places that makes us quite stronger and for very few dice.

1. Steed of Shadows: This might be useful on a Scar Vet, or Old Blood to get it closer to the action. Otherwise I really like the description.

2. The Enfeebling Foe: Not dying is a great thing, and this will definitely help us do that. To boot it is a Remains in Play, and will cost your opponent dice to remove.

3. The Withering: This spell is a large aid for salamander fire and close combat carnage. Put it down and see great things happen.

4. The Penumbral Pendulum: Too many factors conspire to make this spell more of a maybe than a must have. There are simply too many rolls that can be failed here.

5. Pit of Shades: If it didn't scatter this would be great. With the scatter however it would be wise, especially for us, to stay away from the boosted version and point it carefully towards the enemy as it will create casualties, even more so if you hit yourself. It will auto-kill any war machine it hits since they auto-fail Initiative tests.

6. Okkam's Mindrazor: Our Initiative and lack of Weapon Skill makes this spell less useful to us than some races. It's still a worthwhile spell though, doubling your Saurus strength will really help them win combat. If they could just hit first. It should be mentioned that if you have your Slann nearby and he carries a standard of discipline your Augmented unit will be even more grateful as they can use his leadership (FAQ).

Overall: The Hexes contained within this lore really makes for a great lore on a Slann, while some spells are non-collectable they can just be traded for Miasma and any Slann should be happy.

Lore of Life:

Lore Attribute - Lifebloom: With our amount of monsters this makes for great value. Not only do we get wounds back, we also get a spell effect.

0. Earth Blood: This definitely has its use, even when forced upon the Slann's unit - since it will usually be "forced" upon our Temple Guard and I doubt they'd complain.

1. Awakening of the Wood: A rather dull Magic missile that has some conditional moments of real use.

2. Flesh to Stone: Put this on any unit that isn't a Skink and watch joyfully as most enemies have trouble making wounds happen. This is a great spell to us.

3. Throne of Vines: If you're going for life magic you can live without this, but grab it if you can. The ability to ignore Miscasts is not small to us since Temple Guard really aren't cheap and the potential buff for our other units are worthwhile. It will usually also cost your opponent dice to get rid of.

4. Shield of Thorns: I'm split on this spell, I feel it has it's uses but that it's missing some punch. If the damage happened during combat I would be sold, but as it stands it is a useful, though not great spell.

5. Regrowth: With our moment of Monsters and the pricing on our models this spell really is one of the better life spells to be carrying around. It won't win combat, but as long as it can keep us grinding, eventually we should win combat.

6. The Dwellers Below: Put it on a unit of the lesser races and watch them squeal and die in droves. This is a great spell, and it will bring characters down without their prized Look Out Sir! save. Don't leave the spell shop without if they have it on sale!

Overall: This lore provides even more durability to an already durable army, and can be potent enough even without Throne of Vines. However I feel that it lacks some of the Punch we could receive from other lores, and while Dwellers is a potent spell if you didn't roll Throne you're begging for a miscast.

Lore of Metal:

Lore Attribute - Metalshifting: A very limited Lore attribute that comes in handy, but really should just be a part of the spell descriptions - Not useless, but not really a lore attribute compared to other lores.

0. Searing Doom: Most armies will have something Ironclad this can be used against. A good Magic Missile against heavily armored troops or monsters.

1. Plague of Rust: The speed at which this debuff is applied conspire to make it worse than it sounds. Mot useless, but not really useful either, won't do too bad with a good unit of Saurus though.

2. Enchanted Blades of Aiban: Considering the popularity of the razor banner I'd say this is a powerful spell for us. Any unit will like it, and with our lack of inherent magical attacks this really gives good synergy combined with our poor WS. Also works on BS based shooting attacks.

3. Glittering Robe: Well sometimes your Skinks may need it.

4. Gehenna's Golden Hounds: This is very contidional. The hits are easy to avoid, targets a single model, damages per their armor saves. Not great, might use it sometimes if you really need this kind of hits.

5. Transmutation of Lead: I don't see this being useless for putting us on par with some armies core, and the armor save debuff is nice, but it's an expensive cast.

6. Final Transmutation: Death to big or expensive units isn't bad at all, and the after effect is pretty scary. Nothing bad here.

Overall: We can usually handle our way out of armor in other way's considering our high strength Core and special choices. However this can still be a potent lore, and shouldn't be dismissed. The difference in no armor, and some armor can mean a lot.

Lore of Light:

Lore Attribute - Exorcism: Potent when it comes up - useless when it doesn't, this can be Blue in one match and red in another.

0. Shem's Burning Gaze: A good magic missile in that it allows both the range and the strength of the shot to be cranked for a wider threat area.

1. Pha's Protection: Reverse Iceshard, in that it only protects one unit it is worse, but it's cheap to cast, and definetly not a bad spell to have in your repertoire. If you bubble this however it grows exponentially more useful - a great spell to have.

2. Speed of Light: This spell is one those we really want in this lore, we need both buff's a great deal especially on our core and special choices. This will go a long way to patch up our core weaknesses.

3. Light of Battle: Our high leadership values makes this a useful spell, but not a must have. It is a great boon to our Skinks and flying cavalry but the range betrays what we really want to use it for. Still potent enough come close combat.

4. Net of Amyntok: If you haven't noticed yet over the course of this review I love spells that allow you to dictate the movement of a unit. This is potent when it comes to doing just that. The only error being that a strength test can be passed however if the unit does not magic will be shot down as well should the unit hold a wizard. Potent, especially against those flimsy elves. This can also shut down a warmachine since it WILL fail it's strength check (no strength value).

5. Banishment: Our lack of additional casters makes this a good magic missile, but sadly nothing more. It will make your target reroll ward saves, which is grand for some targets, and the amount and strength of the hits makes it a worthwhile investment.

6. Birona's Timewarp: The second spell of this lore we want. Being able to strike at the same time as other's carrying ASF is very potent to us, and even better to strike before our enemies. The +1 attack is just frosting, really awesome frosting, but we'd settle for the ASF part of the effect, not to mention the movement buff. Of all spells, I'd say this is the most potent one Lizardmen can roll /Biased.

Overall: If I were to run a Slann without loremaster or WD I think this is the best place to go, since it covers up our biggest weknesses very strongly. The only thing holding it slightly back is the need to roll the right spells, but even the weaker spells shouldn't disappoint, a VERY potent lore choice.

Lore of Undeath (End Times lore)

Raise the Dead, Lore Attribute: You don’t usually need to use tokens to cast spells, but sometimes the difference between 10 skeletons and 20 zombies is just one token.

0. Ryze, the Grave Call (Signature): Assuming you are within 12 inches of something you want to roadblock, this spell can be very handy.

1. Morkharn, Breath of Darkness: The healing of undead doesn’t matter much since it’s usually easier to just summon a new unit than to heal an existing one, but the free move it bestows can help you in positioning if the situation is right.

2. Morkharn, The Hand of Dust: The potent combat buffs have a load of nasty fine print. You don’t get any buffs if you aren’t in close combat, and you don’t get the extra bonus tokens if you don’t beat someone in a challenge. This might work for some of our two special characters eligible to take the lore, but it’s a waste for a Skink Priest or Slann.

3. Khizzar, the Soul Stealer: Takes a chunk out of low Ld enemies and gives you a few bonus tokens, not too shabby, especially good on a Skink Priest (either his own spell or as an arcane vassal to a Slann with Undeath).

4. Razkhar, the Abyssal Swarm: This spells summons 75 points of Warbeasts or Swarms or 150 points of Monstrous Beasts. That’s an awkward middle ground between “cheap expendable roadblock” and “genuine combat threat,” so you need to work to make sure the unit matchup you are trying to setup is solid. I recommend Spirit Hosts as your go-to unit here since ethereal units will trip up most armies.

5. Kandorak the Harbringer: The basic version of the spell is pretty underwhelming, but a free cheap wizard or solo Cairn Wraith can be put to good use in the right circumstances. The augmented version can summon something REALLY nasty and potentially game turning (if you can overcome the hurdle of 24+ to cast).

6. Akar’aran, the Dark Riders: Not as exciting as Kandorak but a free unit of cavalry in the middle of a game is always welcome and you don't have to use six dice it to get it cast.

Overall: Necromancy is a lot of fun, but relative to other lores, this is a fluff choice, not a competitive choice. If you don’t dual collect Tomb Kings or Vampire Counts alongside your Lizardmen, I wouldn’t recommend buying the units just to use this lore. You don’t need the lore to be competitive in End Times games. If you do want to give Undeath a spin, click here for suggested unit builds

Reservoir of Eldritch Energy: Most of the time, a power die is worth more than a dispel die for us. Sometimes it’s not a good idea to give up dispel dice though, and it is really painful the few times your saved power die is lost. You get more mileage out of this with Wandering Deliberations or Focus of Mystery Slann than with BRB lores.

Soul of Stone: Losing a Slann to a miscast is bad, and this mitigates nasty miscasts…to an extant. Sometimes a one point slide won't help you, sometimes a one point slide will hurt you, but on the whole this has a statistically significant boost to you that is worth the points.

Becalming Cognition: For the price of a dispel scroll you can reroll a failed dispel rolls every round. This is very useful. On a must stop spell you have two chances to roll double 6s. Otherwise it lets you safely gamble by making dispelling attempts with a modest amount of dice. On average, I’d say a Slann with BC gets one more spell dispelled every other turn than one that does not. That’s worth the cost of a Dispel Scroll, right?

Wandering Deliberations: Eight signature spells create a versatile package. You can get a lot of spells cast each round. Enemy chaff is toast and most armies have monsters to cast Spirit Leech and anvils to cast Searing Doom at. Note a WD Slann well hog most of your power dice. If you take a WD Slann, you should probably not take a Solar Engine or a level two Skink priest. I certainly would advise against a second Slann (not enough PD) or Engine of the Gods (relatively little to boost). For maximum mileage you want multiple arcane vassals and as many things that produce extra power dice as you can squeeze in.

Harmonic Convergence: Nearly all players seem to favor this with the Channeling Staff and with good reason. On average it’s one extra dice EVERY magic phase. There is no Slann build that can’t use this dice. The only reason this isn’t purple is it ties your Slann’s hands from taking other Arcane items. Slann without the Channeling Staff don’t get as much from this, but it’s not useless.

Unfathomable Presence: For the same price you can buy the Obsidian Amulet and get MR 2 rather than the more temperamental MR D3, but this is not a terrible choice. You may want to give your Slann a different amulet for your Slann or you want to put the Obsidian Amulet in another unit.

The Harrowing Scrutiny: Lizardmen are not lacking Terror causing Monsters, so you do not give to this to a Slann. Another problem is that a Slann will almost never get the secondary Fear effect since it only affects units in base contact and a Slann should avoid being in base contact whenever possible.

Transcendent Healing: This can be used every round and costs no power dice, but it’s a bit overpriced for what it does. If your Slann has any access to Life magic (Life, High, WD) you can get healing more reliably without paying the points for this discipline. If you Slann has a Temple Guard bunker you probably won’t need to heal your Slann (and if your Slann is taking wounds because his bunker is almost dead, he is beyond Transcendent Healing). If your Slann has access to Shadow he should be able to avoid danger. If your Slann does not have a Temple Guard bunker and doesn’t have any Shadow, Life, or High Magic, then MAYBE consider taking this if you have the points. Especially if reasonably expect to be taking sporadic small numbers of wounds (such as an ethereal Slann acting like a tarpit).

Focus of Mystery:

Higher State of Consciousness: A useful ability for a Slann by himself (but by no means required for solo Slann), but it comes with some hefty drawbacks and limitations, so don’t take this discipline unless you have considered how your army build, lore choices, and deployment strategies address these issues.

The big limitation is that you can be hurt by magic or ethereal attacks. That’s not a big deal for spells since you can take a MR item if you a really paranoid, but usually dispel dice, healing magic, and a 4+ Ward save will help you enough there. The real problem is magical ranged attacks. Dwarfs, Chaos Dwarfs, Skaven, Wood Elves, Daemons all have magical shooting attacks (I'm probably missing an army there). Many magic ranged attacks are flaming so the Dragonbane Gem isn’t a bad idea. You can also mitigate magic shooting by hanging out a few inches away from an infantry block for a 4+ look out sir.

The BIGGEST danger is being charged and killed with Static Resolution. You need to have an army set up/lore choice that lets you easily keep your distance from the enemy or you need to take the Crown of Command. In fact with the Crown of Command you can deliberately charge things and have a very unorthodox tarpit unit.

Armybook magic items:

The Blade of Realities – There aren’t a lot of ways to avoid Ward Saves, but this eats up an Oldblood’s Entire magic item points allotment. An Oldblood with this item probably needs a lot of buff spells to make sure he can live long enough and hit hard enough to make this item worthwhile.

The Piranha Blade – D3 wounds is nice. It also comes with armor piercing which is just icing on the cake. A Saurus character with this is well suited to killing enemy characters or Monsters. Even better it stacks with the Sacred Stegadon Helm of Itza for d3 wound causing Impact Hits.

Sacred Stegadon Helm of Itza – Probably a bit too pricey to be worth it on a Scar Veteran, but it brings a lot of goodies to the table for an Old Blood. Toughness 6? Yes, please! The extra armor save point is always something Old Bloods are scrounging for as well, but the real bonus is the Impact Hits. The Rules As Written allow this to stack with the Piranha Blade for multiple wound bestowing Impact Hits. While we are waiting for a FAQ on this, it’s a safe assumption that since the two magic items are listed right next to each other that the combination was intended by the GW writers.

Skavenpelt Banner – The item is BSB only but there is much appeal in making a unit of Temple Guard Frenzied since the extra attacks benefit from Predatory Fighter and whatever buff or hex spells the Slann is throwing about. It is expensive though. I’d actually be LESS likely to take this versus Skaven since only the Temple Guard would get the Hatred and every single Skaven unit thrown at the Temple Guard would get Hatred against them.

Jaguar Standard – Spendy, but this will give your opponent a shock as your M4 Temple guards start going those 2-3 extra inches in a baited charge, or baits themselves to trick your opponent into a situation where he unknowingly goes into charge range. Tricky to use but could do great tricks.

Cube of Darkness - Hey look at that, we got another dispel scroll! Now the key will be keeping this item in mind while your opponent might be thinking of casting remains in play spells. A dirty trick against an unaware opponent would be to allow him to get his Remains in Play spells off early in his magic phase, then when he casts another spell pop the cube and take out both spells at once. The reason this isn’t Purple is that this item can sometimes come back to bite you if you are using Remains in Play spells.

Plaque of Dominion – An enemy wizard is unlikely to fail a Stupidity test. so your opponent is unlikely to bother dispelling this bound spell. The real use of this as Caneghem pointed out is that it makes the wizard’s unit temporarily Immune to Psychology and therefore unable to flee an enemy charge. Most brittle wizard bunkers usually stay out of charge arcs though making this item situational, but at least it’s not a one-use bound spell so you can plug away with this item round after round.

Cloak of Feathers – This is mainly to let a Skink Priest turn into a perfect Arcane Vassal for your Slann. Okay, a NEARLY perfect vassal since a lone flying Skink Priest is pretty vulnerable. To get the most mileage out of this you need a specific Slann build to use this, a Lord Kroak bomb or a Death Slann.

The Horn of Kygor – To make this one-use item work, you need a Monster Mash or Fast Attack style army and an excellent sense of timing.

The Egg of Quango – It might fluff on a roll of one but unlike many hand grenade type items, it does not require the wielder to be in base contact with the enemy nor does it require you to get the charge (so you don’t have to be precise to use it). The Egg can go to Skink Chiefs, Saurus characters, or Slann and work just fine. Few magic items have that much breadth of use for us.

BRB Magic Items:

Magic Weapons

Note, when buying weapons for Saurus characters, never forget a Halberd or Great Weapon is often just as competitive as many magic weapons and much cheaper.

Sword of Bloodshed - Oldblood only. The only reason it’s not red is because it stacks with Predator Fighter. It’s generally not worth it unless you are planning on having your Oldblood wade into large numbers of relatively weak enemies as opposed to b-lining for enemy characters or monsters.

Obsidian Blade - Fluffwise, Lizardmen use obsidian in many of their normal blades so we don’t need this. Ignoring armor saves is not worth this many points for us because most of our characters are already hitting at least Strength 5. That’s already a nice armor save penalty.

Ogre Blade – Strength 7 is usually just the right amount. Ogre Blade is good for a Saurus character if you don’t want the forgone shield and Always Strikes Last that comes with great weapon.

Sword of Strife – Nearly as potent as the Sword of Bloodshed, but it doesn’t cut into your budget for defensive items overly much. Even with PF, it’s generally better to have your strength boosted though as opposed to having your attacks boosted.

Fencer’s Blades – A very versatile item. Saurus are stronger and tougher than most other races, but their Weapon Skill isn’t too impressive. This boosts it. It helps you hit more and be hit less, making this the good on offense and defense. Despite being a paired weapon, a character on a mount is still alowed to take it. It’s not just for Saurus, but it can also help get a wizard from being singled out in close combat or make a Skink Chief harder to kill. If this is paired with Glittering Scales Armor, some enemies will even require a 6 to hit your Oldblood.

Sword of Anti-Heroes – This is moderately handy against most armies. It’s a godsend against armies that really load up their front ranks with characters such as the Vampire Counts.

Spellthieving Sword – If your Saurus character or Skink Chief is directing attacks at an enemy wizard, you want to KILL the wizard, not merely dock his spells.

Sword of Swift Slaying – I’d normally rather have more hitting power, but this does counter a weakness in our Saurus characters. A Skink Chief or Saurus character with an Initiative boost with this spell will get re-rolls most of the time.

Berserker Sword - Same as above, only you gain the small benefit of being Immune to Psychology, but you have to deal with the potential for unwanted charges. For the Immune to Psychology to matter, the character has to by themselves. Our lone characters are usually on Rippers or Cold Ones anyway which also provides Immune to Psychology.

Sword of Might – Halberd is cheaper but this way you can still use a shield. Also, this is handy for Skink Chiefs who cannot take halberds.

Gold Sigil Sword – Saurus characters suffer from low Initiative but for only ten points more, you can get Always Strikes First instead.

Sword of Striking – You hit more often and it’s fairly cheap. What’s not to like?

Biting Blade – A Strength boost is better but this weapon is cheap. Not bad as an afterthought for a Skink Chief, or if you are tossing out as many magic weapons as you can in order to counter ethereal enemies.

Shrieking Blade – Fear Causing soldiers? What a great idea! If only we had six different possible character mounts capable of causing Fear or Terror.

Relic Blade – Even with an ordinary hand weapon our Saurus characters should usually be wounding on 5 or better anyway against everyone who isn’t a K’daai Destroye or Frostheart Pheonix.

Tormentor Sword – Good when ANY magical weapon will do since it’s so cheap. The actual effect is pretty small and is liable to be forgotten in a game.

Warrior Bane – Like the Tormentor Sword, it’s good because it’s a cheap magic weapon. It’s also more likely to come into play. The power is actually useful when fighting defensively built monsters allowing even a mediocre fighter to effectively neuter them.

Magic Armors

Note that the ONLY way we can ever get Heavy Armor is with magical armors which increases the value of magical heavy armors. We get the benefit of +1 Armor Save and whatever magic effect is there. You can also get +1 Armor Save with the Enchanted Shield or one of the helmets. Since two handed weapons are fairly popular we need all the +1s we can get.

Armor of Destiny – For only five more points than the Talisman of Preservation, you get the awesome Ward Save AND the coveted heavy armor.

Trickster’s Helm – It’s a bit expensive, but Saurus are hard to wound for most things, so this helmet can come in handy. This will make a Saurus character nigh-invulnerabl by most regular troops up to str 6.

Armor of Silvered Steel – Since our soldiers have Scaly Skin, we don’t need to spend this many points just to get a 2+ save.

Armor of Fortune – Like the Armor of Destiny this gives you heavy armor and a useful Ward Save. While a 5+ Save isn’t super impressive, but this frees up points for a Scar Veteran. Also most lists have two Saurus characters, so this lets you give magic heavy armor to a SECOND character.

Helm of Discord – For its cost, you really need a guaranteed matchup with a low leadership army to make this item worth it.

Glittering Scales – It’s relatively unimpressive on its own, but when worn on an Oldblood with the Fencer’s Blades, your character will be very difficult to take down. For those not willing to commit to Fencer’s Blades you can pair this with Hexes and Augment spells for the same affect.

Shield of Ptolos – I can see this having value to a Skink Chief on a flyer expecting lots of non-artillery based shooters but that’s it.

Spellshield – Not terrible, but I’d rather get my MR from the slightly cheaper Obsidian Trinket and not burn up my only Magic Armor slot on this.

Gambler’s Armor – This is the budget version of Armor of Destiny. For only five more points than the Talisman of Protection, you get the Ward Save AND the heavy armor.

Dragonhelm – An inexpensive way to get another point of armor save when you want to conserve points and are planning on equipping your character with a two-handed weapon. The bonus Ward Save versus fire is almost an afterthought.

Enchanted Shield – If you aren’t giving your characters two-handed weapons, this is the best armor for a general on a budget. +2 to Armor Saves for less than the cost of giving an Old Blood a regular shield.

Charmed Shield – It may be one-use only for the power, but the shield itself stays, so the comment above about the Enchanted Shield being cheaper than an Oldblood’s regular shield applies. It’s good to give to a Carnosaur rider so the first cannonball won’t kill the Saurus rider. It’s also good to give to a solo Skink Chief on a Terradon or Ripper for the same reason (only it will keep his mount alive too).

Magic Talismans

Talisman of Preservation – Useless on a Slann. But a Scar Vet Cowboy or an oldblood can use this as sort of an extra Armour of Destiny for a very small extra charge. If you love the GW wielding Cowboy, why not bring 2 for twice the fun by taking this on one and Armor of Destiny on the other? A solid talisman.

Obsidian Lodestone – Equip this to your Slann when you absolutely must keep the enemy wizards from killing your Temple Guard. If only MR applied against miscasts, then this item would be a must include, but it only works on the OTHER SIDE'S spells. It stacks with the Slann’s Ward save too for magic but it sadly cannot go below 2+

Talisman of Endurance - If you already spending this many points on a Talsiman, why not go 15 more and at least get at least a 50% of shrugging off wounds?

Obsidian Amulet – This is probably slightly more economical to give to a Slann than the Obsidian Lodestone since there is no wasted MR when it stacks with the Slann’s Ward Save. Like the more powerful Lodestone, it’s more about protecting the unit than the character. The Obsidian Amulet is cheap enough that an Old Blood can take this to protect his unit without compromising the rest of his magical item selection.

Dawnstone – It is not hard to get a Scar Veteran or Old Blood on a Cold One (or even a Carnosaur) to a 1+ Armor save and a reroll-able 1+ Armor save is pretty potent. Just keep your Dawnstone character away from high strength enemies because a rerollable 6+ save is not that impressive.

Opal Amulet – Sometimes one save is all you need and this is fairly cheap. This is a good choice for Skink Priests as it can give you an extra critical round of Arcane Vassal action. It also pairs nicely with the Forbidden Rod raising their survivability by a fair bit for a low cost.

Obsidian Trinket – The poor man’s Obsidian item may not do much but it can cover a large number of models if the character is in the right unit. It’s cheapness becomes an asset in that even a Scar Veteran can carry this without seriously compromising the rest of his magic item allowance.

Talisman of Protection – Not useless, but the price is a little steep for a magical item that will fail you most of the time.

Seed of Rebirth – In 95% of all cases, this will give you the same protection as the Talisman of Protection for less cost.

Dragonbane Gem – You aren’t likely to have to face flaming attacks, but it’s so cheap you probably won't be lamenting the lost points if it never gets used. It’s especially useful for lone characters (Saurus, Skink, or Slann) who might get targeted by flaming artillery or spells which are fairly common in an all comers environment.

Pigeon Plucker Amulet – It will rarely come into play, but at 5 points you aren’t out much if it doesn’t work. For best results, I’d try putting this on a Skink Chief on a flyer for some dogfighting action.

Luckstone – One of the better dirt cheap magical items. Sometimes one save is the difference between life and death. If your Saurus character or Skink Chief still has a few points left in his magic item allowance, you can do worse than them give this.

Magic Standards

Note that Lizardmen are constrained with selecting Magic Standards in that only BSBs and Temple Guard can take them. That’s means most armies will only be able to take two and some armies zero. I’m operating on the assumption that very few players will give magic standards to non-Slann BSBs since non-Slann BSBs will almost certainly want other magical items to protect themselves.

Wailing Banner – If you really want to cause Terror bring a big dinosaur or give someone the Terrifying Mask of EEE!

Ranger's standard - This item is intended for cavalry. Unless you're going with a mounted scar vet BSB without magic items this will do you no good - and you don't want to go with a mounted scar vet BSB without magic items.

Razor Standard – Sometimes hitting at Strength 5 isn’t enough for Temple Guard and you want the extra point of armor save reduction for can opening purposes.

War Banner – An extra point of CR is nice, but it will only help a Slann’s bunker when Temple Guard are winning. The extra CR won’t matter when they are on the losing side because you test on Stubborn. The War Banner will help you a lot with the rare Temple Guard block running WITHOUT a Slann.

Banner of Swiftness - I can't think of a tonne of situations where I'd like to get one more inch of movement. This can be useful, it can also be useless in a given battle. Seeing as it will most likely make your TG faster than your other units and you don't want your Slann up ahead you'll probably only use this inch to charge. It works best when your Temple Guard would otherwise be the slowest thing in your army (where EVERYTHING else has move 6 or better).

Lichbone Pennant – A magical standard for the same price as the identically functioning Obsidian Trinket. Why not? It doesn’t matter what form MR comes in.

Standard of Discipline – Boosting your Slann’s leadership to 10 is always a good idea and it doesn’t cost many points. Since the Slann is probably the general already the not using the Inspiring Presence is a non-issue. You can either give it to the Slann himself or the Slann’s TG bunker.

Banner of Eternal Flame – You never know when your Temple Guard will need to assault a building or fight something with Regeneration. At only 10 points, you aren’t out much if you DON’T need to do either of those two things. Watch out for Dragon Knights, K’daai and characters with the Dragonbane Gem.

Gleaming Pennant – In a normal game the Slann and Temple Guard have the BSB, so they get all the re-rolls they want. In a very large grand army game, you might have a second Temple Guard unit outside of the BSB’s range that can use this, especially if you run two Slann.

Scarecrow Banner – It may be cheap but we don’t have a lot of opportunities to equip magical standards and we have many other options to cause Fear to things.

Arcane Items

Lizardmen are a magical army, so all the Arcane Items can help us. The real limiting factor is that we can only take one arcane item per wizard. That’s generally a bigger limiting factor than the actual points cost.

Feedback Scroll – You need to have a foe fond of casting ueberspells from wizards without Ward Saves for this item to work.

Scroll of Leeching – A lot of points for something that can’t actually stop or mitigate a spell in any way. To get maximum mileage out of this spell you need to play this when a player throws five or six dice at a spell. That means they probably won’t have any dice left so your new extra dispel dice aren’t that useful, especially if a Miscast burns the rest of their power dice away. In a Storm of Magic game, this Scroll becomes Green because there is actually call for mountains of dispel dice mid-phase.

Sivejir’s Hex Scroll – It’s fun to turn people into frogs but this scroll only has a 50% chance of nerfing an enemy wizard Lord and it might only last for a single turn. That’s a lot left up to chance for an item that will eat a Skink's entire magic points allowance.

Power Scroll – If the Slann dies we probably lost the game. A Slann tempting an Irresistible Force casting is thus a bad risk to take. A Skink Priest is unlikely to have a spell important enough that you want to invest an item costing 7 Cohort Skinks for a CHANCE to make it Irresistible.

Wand of Jet – A little weak, but it is a rarity in that you can decide to use it AFTER making your casting attempt rather than before which can safe you from whiffing a magic phase. In Storm of Magic it becomes Green because it can help you roll more dice to get big Cataclysm spells off.

Forbidden Rod – Slann can always use more power dice and the automatic wounds are pretty minor in light of the Slann’s five wound profile, 4+ Ward Save, and the fact that most Slann have the ability to heal wounds fairly easily. If the Slann is caddying a different item, you can always give this to a Skink Priest. The loss of a Skink Priest is usually well worth avoiding a poor magic phase. If you give your Skink Power Dice Battery the Opal Amulet, they might even survive.

Trickster’s Shard – You have to announce this at the beginning of the magic phase so you can’t pull this as an effective surprise. With only a 1 in three chance of wounding an enemy wizard per spell you lose, this is NOT worth taking up a precious Arcane Item slot.

Earthing Rod – A Slann can get more reliable miscast protection from Soul of Stone and not eat up their Arcane Item slot. A Skink Priest is not important enough to eat up their Arcane Item Slot with this; they should be caddying something more proactive.

Dispel Scroll – Knocks out an enemy spell, no questions asked. This item is pretty much standard issue for all armies, not just Lizardmen.

Power Stone – Not useless, but Lizardmen generally have better options to generate extra power dice.

Sceptre of Stability – It doesn’t SEEM bad for a poor man’s dispel scroll since you can wait to see if your dispel attempt succeeds or fails BEFORE committing to using this. The problem is this item is pretty much a Skink Priest item and a Slann gets +2 or +3 more to dispel than a Skink Priest which is almost the average roll of the Sceptre’s bonus die.

Channeling Staff – Channeling Staff plus Harmonic Convergence is a golden combo that will on average net you a bonus power or dispel die every single phase. Without Harmonic Convergence, the Channeling Staff is Green. In a Storm of Magic game, the Channeling Staff becomes Purple Squared! since the Channeling Staff/Harmonic Convergence combo stacks with Fantastic Foresight (the Heavens Presence spell).

Scroll of Shielding – This is a good poor man’s dispel scroll because you can still mitigate a nuke spell even if cast with Irresistible Force. It’s cheap enough that even a Skink Priest wearing the Cloak of Feathers can still squeeze it in their magic item allotment.

Enchanted items

Wizarding Hat – I don’t like the idea of not being sure which Lore you are getting. This item is also Oldblood only. In a Storm of Magic game, an Oldblood on a Cold One (or Carnosaur) would be very good at defending an arcane fulcrum. In a normal game, stick with your normal wizards.

Fozzrik’s Folding Fortress - We are an offensive army without much long ranged shooting so this won’t do much unless you want to try this, but I don’t think it’s very sportsmanlike.

Arabyan Carpet - We can make our skinks fly for cheaper with the Cloak of Feathers or a Terradon and Slann can’t use this at all. An Unorthodox Saurus Oldblood can get some mileage out of this.

Crown of Command - Handy for Saurus Cowboys since you can’t always count on winning Combat Resolution and it really stings to have your strongest characters flee. Also good for Deathstars that aren’t made up of Temple Guard.

Healing Potion – Too expensive for what it does. A Life Slann, WD Slann, or High Magic Slann will be able to get you all the character healing you need and then some. A Slann-less army won't have any characters with enough wounds for this to matter.

Featherfoe Torc – Even if you are facing a lot of flyers, it just seems too expensive to be worth it.

Ruby Ring of Ruin – A nice item to give a Skink Priest since he should be able to get some good shots in a Skirmisher bunker. Also, a single priest can take this AND a Dispel Scroll. In small points games I give the Ruby Ring a Purple rating since a level two Skink priest with the Ruby Ring can make sure none of your 2d6 power dice go to waste.

Terrifying Mask of EEE! – We have a lot of dinosaurs that cause Fear or Terror, but this item isn’t useless. No one expects a LM character on foot to be forcing a Terror test on them.

Potion of Strength - Handy if you need your Saurus to open a can of whup-ass against a steam tank or something similar, but you are generally better off giving a Saurus a Strength boosting weapon. This is good for Skink Chiefs though. They don’t last long in close combat, so the Potion can make their first round count.

Potion of Toughness – For this points cost you can get a more reliable defensive talisman that is always active.

Other Trickster’s Shard – This is situational because you have to be facing enemies with Ward Saves you want to be ignoring and not be in base to base contact with a friendly character with a Ward save.

Iron Curse Icon – TG Slann bunkers are assuredly going to be major artillery magnets. The Icon is also good for Saurus characters leading Cold One Riders. You really only need to save a single wound every other game to pay for itself. Some people think 5 points is a worthy price to give Carnosaurs and character ridden Stegadons a 1 in 6 chance of surviving a cannon ball unscathed. Sure it’s not likely to work but you will be VERY happy when it does work, and it costs you very little to try.

EDIT: This doesn't stack with the Ward Save bestowed by an Engine of the Gods. If a unit is likely to stay close to a EOTG Steggy, you probably want to give Icon to another unit.

Potion of Foolhardiness – For hardly any points your Saurus character can get an extra attack on the charge. A very good deal if you haven’t used your Enchanted Item slot for something else.

Potion of Speed – It covers a weakness of Saurus characters and is inexpensive to take. It probably won’t come into play most games but in other games it just may be the edge your Saurus needs to win a critical challenge.

Slann: The general, BSB, and a potent spell caster all in one unit. You need at least three characters to fill the niches in your army if you choose not to take a Slann.

Saurus Oldblood on Foot: This provides good hitting power to a unit, but you need a good allotment of magical items to make this worthwhile versus a Scar Veteran who has virtually the same stats. One nice thing about Oldbloods on foot is that you can often squeeze one in and still be able to afford a Slann. EDIT: With the new larger Lord's alotmment, fitting Oldbloods in with Slann bunkers is not a problem at all)

Oldblood Cowboy: An Old Blood on a Cold One gets two points of armor save the ability to cause Fear and extra attack. They can be fielded in an infantry block, solo, or in a small unit of Cold Ones. When not fielded in a Cold One cavalry unit, they are vulnerable to ranged attacks that ignore armor.

Saurus Oldblood on Carnosaur: An Oldblood on a Carnosaur usually means no Slann in your list. This build is potent enough to work as a general, but you generally need to build your whole list around this to make it work well.

Lord Mazdamundi: Maz has a good assortment of disciplines and comes with a free Ancient Stegadon. The main thing he brings to the table is an 18 inch general and BSB range, but sadly a Slann is usually safer in a Temple Guard block than on a Ancient Stegadon. I would recommend leaving Maz for themed lists or for players who REALLY like one of BRB lores and are yearning for loremaster in something other than High Magic or for armies likely to spread out over most of the table.

Lord Kroak: The buffs to his Temple Guard unit are nice, but Kroak is really about using Skink Priests to wander into the middle of the enemy lines and blast them over and over again all with relatively little fear from miscasts. Simple, but brutal.

Kroq-Gar: Similar to an Oldblood Carnosaur. Price is steep and you don't get to handpick the magic items, BUT Kroq-Gar's Ward Save extends to Grymloq. It's only 5+ but it's a trick we can't get elsewhere.

Tehenhauin: A multi-purpose unit, he can fight somewhere between a Skink Chief and a tooled up Scar Veteran and he can cast somewhere between a Skink Priest and a Slann. If you are flexible enough to be able to know which talents to use of Tehenhauin at which times, this should do well for you, but you should probably treat him as a caster first, fighter second.

Tehenhauin on an Ancient Stegadon: Why pay the full cost for Tehahauin and NOT get the snake attacks. Much better to buy an Engine of the Gods Stegadon and Tehenhauin separately.

Heroes

Scar Veteran on Foot: Not bad for adding some extra CR to an infantry block.

Scar Veteran Cowboy: Functions like an Old Blood Cowboy, only cheaper. A great weapon works as well as most magic weapons for a fraction of the cost.

Scarvet on Carnosaur (Scarnosaur): A Scar Veteran on a Carnosaur is potent and works well with most lord choices. You can take a Scarnosaur in a regular point size game and not forgo a Slann. If you take a Scarnosaur and Old Blood Carnosaur you get the benefit of a terrifying double carnage inducer. If you make him the BSB you get an 18 inch Stand Your Ground range which is pretty hard wearing against most things (other than cannons).

Scar Veteran BSB: A Scar Veteran is probably your best non-Slann BSB alternative. A Scarnosaur BSB gives you an 18 inch Stand Your Ground Range, but that is putting a lot of eggs in one basket that can die to a lucky artillery shot. With a Cowboy BSB, the main risk is that your faster BSB will outpace the rest of your main army. A BSB on foot is relatively safe, but won’t add much hitting power to your army.

Skink Chief on Foot: Their uses are limited, but they are cheap enough that you can take them as an add-on without weakening your army. Good for a general in a very low point game. Adds a bit of hitting power to a Skink unit (though less than a Kroxigor brings to the table). If you are really worried about your Predatory Fighter units running amok you can space one or more of these guys around your main line. They are an inexpensive, but vulnerable BSB option.

Skink Chief on Stegadon: Skink Chiefs don’t add much to a Stegadon or Ancient Stegadon so mainly this is a build for someone who wants to squeeze another Steggy in without using Special or Rare points. Also good if you want a (relatively) cheap BSB with an 18 inch command range.

Skink Chief on Flyer: A Skink Chief on a flyer can run a lot of interfence on your opponent and/or try to assassinate critical support characters or units. A Terradon rider leans towards interference and a Ripperdactyl leans towards assassination.

Skink Priest on Foot: If you aren’t taking a Slann, this is practically your only option for magic. If you are taking a Slann you probably STILL want one or two priest to caddy arcane items and serve as Arcane Vassals.

Skink Priest on Ancient Stegadon: Engine of the Gods doesn’t need Skink Priests anymore, but this is a good way to sneak an Engine in if you are maxing out your Rare points. The unit won’t give away its points until both the Stegadon and Priest are dead and both models can use their abilities independently which is nice.

Gor-Rok: A potent fighter who comes with Stubborn. Any Saurus block would be pleased to fight with him.

Chakax: The bonuses Chakax brings to a Slann bunker are pretty nice, but they are a bit overpriced for how challenge dependent they are.

Tetto’eko: A grab bag of useful abilities including Lore Master and army Vanguards all for a fairly cheap points cost. Our best Special Character, it's not even close.

Tiktaq’to: While he technically can’t lead a unit of Terradon riders, he can still bestow Ambushers on them. Terradons in your enemies backfield are pretty nice. You can even deploy Tiktaq’to on one side and the Terradon Riders on the other.

Oxyotl: For the cost of Oxyotl, you can get nine Chameleon Skinks with points to spare, so I would not recommend him for raw damage. To use him well, you need to magnify the threat of character assassination in the minds of your opponents, so they overcompensate. It's how Empire players field Witch Hunters.

Core

Saurus Warriors: Saurus Warriors outclass most Core by a fair bit (unless that Core is in league with Chaos and/or Dwarven). To take on enemy non-Core you can’t just march your Saurus Warriors in and wail away, you need to back them up with buffs (from EOTG, Solar Engines, Troglodon's Roar, Swarms, and/or magic) or supporting flanking units (Terror or Fear causing is ideal) or Saurus characters.

Saurus Warriors are good whether you go with spears or sword and board. Spears are slightly better when your enemy is faster than you (and likely to charge), when you have plentiful buffs, and when your Saurus blocks are fairly large. Sword and board is slightly better when your enemy is slower than you (and you are likely to get the charge), when buffs are somewhat hard to come by and your Saurus blocks are fairly small or are in horde formation.

Skink Cohorts, vanilla: Though not as mobile as Skirmishers, small blocks of Cohort Skinks will serve as good chaff units because they are cheap. A medium sized block within your BSB/general radius can defend a building against a superior force for some time. A large Cohort can serve as a tarpit. Poison should not be disregarded for larger units of these guys, a horde of Skinks with poison stands chances of not only tarpitting, but also taking down more enemies than opponents expect to be losing against Skinks.

Skink Cohorts, Skroxigor: Skink Cohorts with Kroxigor in them (aka Skroxigor) have taken a hit in our new book. They used to be great monster/knight killers but no longer. Now the enemy heavy hitters will be able to take out the Kroxigor before they can swing their massive axes. A small Skroxigor block can serve as a good inexpensive flanking unit but larger units will probably not help you much unless the table you are relying on a Fast Attack Style army and you need Core that can keep up with your faster dinosaur units.

Skink Cohorts with Poisoned Attacks Upgrade: Since a Cohort Skink usually needs a 5 or 6 to score a hit, and only hits at S3, buying poisoned melee attacks seems like a good idea on the surface. The problem is that fully poisonous Skinks are fairly pricey in terms of points. Small Cohorts will generally die before they can poison people to death in melee and large Cohorts will cost prohibitively expensive amounts of points. Poisoned Cohorts should probably be medium size (20-40) and only used as part of very specific strategies.

Skink Skirmishers: We are fortunate to have cheap skirmishers with a 12 inch march move. As redirectors they are arguably second to none. They do pretty well at softening up units with weak armor saves during your shooting phase. They can also serve as war machine hunters if you are on a budget and can’t spare the points for Chameleon Skinks or flyers.

The difference between javelins and shields versus blowpipes is not enough to warrant a different color rating. I’d say javelins are slightly better since they are Quick to Fire (which is vital since Skirmishers move most of the time) and they come with shields. Blowpipes become more powerful when you go against slower armies letting you close into short range without exposing your Skirmishers to danger. Blowpipes also synergize well with Hand of Glory, letting them double tap at any range.

Skink Skirmishers are a great “bus” for Skink characters whether you want to let a Skink Priest line up for a good direct damage spell cast from a Slann, deliver the Egg of Quango, or move a Skink character to let a PF unit restrain pursuit.

Special

Temple Guard, stand alone: For only a few more points than Saurus Warriors you get better equipment, slightly better stats, and the only non-BSB option for magic standards. As a non-Core unit they compete for points with a lot of nice units though. Compared to other armies, at best Temple Guard are middle of the road compared to enemy elite infantry units so you need to make sure your Temple Guard are supported by other units. Note that these troops ARE better than Saurus, and you get what you pay for, you just need to actually pay for it, and 3 pts a man can be a budget breaker - hence most would like full benefit and bring the Slann as well (see below).

Temple Guard with Slann: Sacred Duty plus a BSB means the unit is not going to budge until it’s killed to the last man. Despite being at ground zero for beneficial spells cast by a Slann, you still need to make sure your Temple Guard are supported by other units since a wise enemy will hit your Slann bunker with everything they have.

Jungle Swarms: A versatile unit. As a lone unit they can stall a big block for a cheap amount of points. As a support unit, they can bestow a lot of poison attacks (though they bleed CR). A 10 inch Skirmish march plus Aquatic should give you the mobility to re-deploy a staller as a support unit or visa versa if your original plan needs to change. That being said, they are little pricey in terms of points for what they do.

Chameleon Skinks: Good war machine hunters. They can do anything a Skink Skirmisher does only better since with their Scout they can get into position at least a turn earlier and they have the Ballistic Skill to consistently pull off multiple poisoned shots without short range or buffs. In small points games, they become a lot more powerful because it becomes almost impossible for an enemy to deploy their units so as to completely close off their deployment zone to scouts. They are hard to shoot at but don’t forget they perish very easily to magic missiles.

Cold One Riders: They aren’t cheap, but they are the fastest non-flyer we have, they have a 2+ armor save, and a lot of PF attacks. As a Cold Blooded army, Stupidity will rarely impact you, but it is unpleasant when it does. They are too expensive to be a throwaway unit, so don’t let them fight tough things single handedly. Their best use seems to be as flank support or as a “bus” for a Scar Veteran or Oldblood packing heat.

Kroxigor: Lots of Strength 7 attacks will rip apart any enemy…provided you can keep the Kroxigor alive long enough to let them strike. To keep them alive you need to give them adequate flank support and strategic buff spells. To get maximum use out of Kroxigor, you want to get your Kroxigor into combat with small numbers of powerful enemies: cavalry, chariots, monsters, and/or monstrous cavalry, especially Monsters. If they get bogged down fighting infantry, they will usually lose. Core infantry will mean your S7 attacks will go to waste. Elite Infantry will cut down your Kroxigors before they can even strike. Never forget to issue challenges A Kroxigor Ancient has a better chance of winning an underdog challenge than almost any other unit champion in all of Warhammer.

Terradon Riders: Flyers are useful as the ultimate redirectors. Their long maximum charge range lets them force already fleeing units off the table. They are the best tool we have for war machine hunting when an enemy deployment is too tight for Chameleon Skinks. The downside of Terradons is that they are fairly brittle in the face of enemy shooting, magic, or close combat where they are not flanking the enemy. Also it's important to remember that just because you can Vanguard doesn't mean you should always do so. Sometimes that just leads to Terradons being isolated and picked off.

Ripperdactlyl Riders: If you want your flyers to kill things beyond war machine crews and you aren’t planning on doing a lot of fancy redirecting, Rippers should be your go-to flyer especially if there is one unit in particular you want them to stomp (toad it baby!). Note that Frenzy and Skimishers go together well, if you don't feel like charging, turn your tail at your opponent! Beware that this prevents you from charging any sudden occurring possibilities behind your Ripper's, also, the toad's can be used as a psychological weapon besides their combat merit making a paranoid enemy turtle said unit. Do not forget that you're not forced to attack that target.

EDIT: Rippers come with some nasty fine print. Frenzy bestows Immune to Psychology which is normally good but ItP units cannot choose to flee as a charge reaction meaning you have to be very careful moving these guys.

Stegadon: A Stegadon brings a lot of powerful attacks. Despite being Stubborn you should avoid letting them get into combat by themselves, Ld 6 isn't great and they will often lose combat due to static Combat Resolution. It’s very important to get the charge since so much of the Stegadon’s power is invested in the impact hits. The Giant bow will almost never hit, so you should not forgo marching to be able to fire it unless you can count on casting Hand of Glory on it. Note that both Stegadons benefit well from sharpened horns, it will make them shred multiple wounds units as well as regular units since in the world of 8th, monstrous cavalry is a common sighting.

Bastiladon, Ark of Sotek,Bastiladon, Solar Engine: Solar Engines are great. The Initiative bonus will help us attack sooner against most non-Chaos/non Elf armies but the real power is the bound spell. Beam of Chotec, a very powerful magic missile for a low casting cost. Five out of six castings of the Beam will either be powerful or very powerful. A solid choice unless your Slann is packing lots of ranged magic spells already.

The Ark of Sotek ability to regrow Swarms is nice, but you lose some of the flexibility potential of Swarms if they have to stay near the Bastiladon. The real power of the Ark is the unorthodox shooting phase. Ideally if you can get your Bastiladon in the middle of a big multi-unit melee to throw snakes at multiple engaged enemies before your fighting units go to town.

Rare

Ancient Stegadon: Giant blowpipes will generally serve you better than a giant bow. Like the giant bow, Giant Blowpipes do well with Hand of Glory. Against most enemies, Strength 6 hits will perform noticeably better than Strength 5 hits. Unstoppable Stampede and Sharpened Horns all utilize Strength 6 well and the upgrades cost no more for the Ancient Stegadon than the weaker Stegadon. All in all, you get a lot more hitting power for a nominal increase in points cost. The downside is not the points cost, but the fact that an Ancient Stegadon is pretty vulnerable if it can’t get its Impact Hits since it only has three basic attacks.

Salamander Hunting Pack: It won’t kill heavily armored troops easily anymore, but at S4 it’s better than ever at softening up most hordes of infantry. The chance to panic large swaths of the enemy’s forces is icing on the delicious Salamander cake. Don’t forget Salamanders can fight in close combat too. You should try to get a flank charge in when you run out of obvious burn targets.

Razordon Hunting Pack: Like a pack of Skirmishers but with more hitting power. They are fairly cheap (though admittedly they take Rare points). With their 18 inch shooting range and powerful Stand and Shoot, Razordons are great at countering enemy Fast Cavalry and other Vanguard troops. If you don’t have Vanguard troops to fight, they aren’t bad at shooting up enemy infantry blocks and they can make fairly potent flankers.

Troglodon: Trogolons can do a lot of things, but they can’t do many things very well. They can fight in close combat, but not as well as a Carnosaur. They can shoot but not as well as Skinks or Razordons. They can channel dice and aim spells, but not as inexpensively as Skink Priests. They can do one thing no one else can do, which is boost Primal Fighter attacks, but they can only do it once. The Troglodon roar is more powerful the greater the strength of the attacks, and the higher the amount of attacks. If you want this guy to be useful, you need to be able to put him into situation's where his roar can cover several units with the hardest hitting first, unless the amount of attacks you'll otherwise affect is significantly higher elsewhere. In order of importance by unit strength - Kroxigor > Temple Guard with Razor banner > Saurus Lords/heroes and regular Templeguard > SCoR on the charge > Saurus Warriors or Scor.

The troop choices are currently written by our very own Scalenex and i will be on hand to edit / reply to your opinions and or questions regarding them.

I agree in Scalenex's ratings, and commentaries. Currently i have left the abundance of green present simply to have the community filter the ratings of especially the Special choices!

I put the Slann in the Temple Guard and run them in horde formation. The Saurus Warriors go 5 wide in bus formation. Tetto'ekko hangs out behind the Temple Guard in the Skink Cohort unit.

The Stegadon and Bastiladon flank the Temple Guard while the Troglodon stays between the two Saurus units and keeps back to protect the rear from Fast Cav/Scouts/Fliers. The stegadon should also be between the two Saurus units to give them all 6+ wards.

Sometimes I use Tetto to just vanguard the Temple Guard into the face of my opponent to get an early charge off. Sometimes I turtle up in a corner and let my opponent come to me through a storm of Comets and Magic Missiles.

Jungle poisons you've put green; based on your rating system, i'd have to say at least blue, probably purple for that - all that poisoned shooting absolutely scares the pants off monsters and warmachines! without it, they'd be much less effective.

Jungle poisons you've put green; based on your rating system, i'd have to say at least blue, probably purple for that - all that poisoned shooting absolutely scares the pants off monsters and warmachines! without it, they'd be much less effective.

Look forward to seeing more of this

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I actually thought a lot about it but as it can be armor saved, and it can completely fluff out in rolling no 6's or be mitigated with BS penalties i found a green would fit better - i definitely wouldn't go purple on it.
I could be persuaded that blue is the way to go though - but to be honest i think it's the skinks that does much of the work as well, not just the poison.

Really appreciate the feedback, if more agree i'll probable blue it up a notch ^^

EDIT : i've made it blue since you're right. The average rolls and the ampunts of skinks we have definetly should have it up there

Very minor but still:
A Slann can't cast Kadon's since hes not "on foot" which is required for this spell.
This was FAQed in the last book and made clear in the rules for the palanquin in the new book.

Very minor but still:
A Slann can't cast Kadon's since hes not "on foot" which is required for this spell.
This was FAQed in the last book and made clear in the rules for the palanquin in the new book.

Where can I find Rothgar13's book btw? ^^

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Not a book - but HE's forum, Ogre's forum and Empire's forum all have similar styled Handbook's which i am trying to (hardpressed) imitate here.

I think savage beast is green and amber spear blue.
I find savage beast situationally good, most of the time it's simply overkill as scarvets pretty much come with GW in 90% of builds and oldbloods are already amazing. My biggest problem is that 12". I'm still average but I find I'm almost never close enough to cast it when it matters most.
Amber spear on the other hand is blue(purple for me, but that's just my play style in general) because it can threaten all of your opponents high mobility units. With spear in your kit they can't afford to not have atleasst a 4+ lookout sir.
Plus the upgraded version is ST10. Multi wound D6. Almost nothing it can't kill with a little luck. I think anything that forces your opponent to be more careful with their movement phase or be punished, is amazing.

I think savage beast is green and amber spear blue.
I find savage beast situationally good, most of the time it's simply overkill as scarvets pretty much come with GW in 90% of builds and oldbloods are already amazing. My biggest problem is that 12". I'm still average but I find I'm almost never close enough to cast it when it matters most.
Amber spear on the other hand is blue(purple for me, but that's just my play style in general) because it can threaten all of your opponents high mobility units. With spear in your kit they can't afford to not have atleasst a 4+ lookout sir.
Plus the upgraded version is ST10. Multi wound D6. Almost nothing it can't kill with a little luck. I think anything that forces your opponent to be more careful with their movement phase or be punished, is amazing.

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While i still think savage beast is great in a Lizardmen list even with it's limited range, i was quite doubting the placement of Amber Spear on the ratings and i'll change it back, after all, as i wrote, it also patches up our lack of true long range artillery.

I think this is a great initiative for the Lizardmen forum to be undertaking. My Lizard-fu is limited at the moment, so I will be an interested observer throughout this process. That said, I do have a few comments:

1. I would have expected The Enfeebling Foe to have been rated a bit higher in the Shadow Lore breakdown. Armor is all over the place in the Lizardmen army, and a Strength debuff makes it that much more annoying to put wounds on guys because of all the saves you'll get. I'd say that if I had a Shadow Slann, I would be spamming that spell left and right (assuming it's getting dispelled regularly, which it probably will be).

2. I really enjoyed your take on magic items, particularly the blurb on how magic heavy armor is so good for fighting characters. Very well pointed out.

I think this is a great initiative for the Lizardmen forum to be undertaking. My Lizard-fu is limited at the moment, so I will be an interested observer throughout this process. That said, I do have a few comments:

1. I would have expected The Enfeebling Foe to have been rated a bit higher in the Shadow Lore breakdown. Armor is all over the place in the Lizardmen army, and a Strength debuff makes it that much more annoying to put wounds on guys because of all the saves you'll get. I'd say that if I had a Shadow Slann, I would be spamming that spell left and right (assuming it's getting dispelled regularly, which it probably will be).

2. I really enjoyed your take on magic items, particularly the blurb on how magic heavy armor is so good for fighting characters. Very well pointed out.